Chester William Chapin
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 11th district
In office
March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877
Preceded byHenry L. Dawes
Succeeded byGeorge D. Robinson
Personal details
Born(1798-12-16)December 16, 1798
Ludlow, Massachusetts
DiedJune 10, 1883(1883-06-10) (aged 84)
Springfield, Massachusetts
Political partyDemocratic
OccupationBusinessman
Signature

Chester William Chapin (December 16, 1798 – June 10, 1883) was an American businessman, president of the Boston and Albany Railroad from 1868 to 1878, and U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts.[1] He was a multimillionaire at his death in 1883, and controlled one of New England’s most important rail lines.[2][3]

Early days

Chester W. Chapin was born in Ludlow, Massachusetts, to Ephriam and Mary Smith Chapin,[4] the youngest of seven children,[5] and six generations removed from Puritan forebearer, Deacon Samuel Chapin.

The family moved to Chicopee and in 1806 his father died, leaving Chester and his brothers to work their farm. He attended common schools and Westfield Academy, Westfield, Massachusetts. One of his first paying jobs was when local cotton mills were being built, when he earned $1.50 a day.

Career

Chapin quickly went into business for himself, opening a store, and in 1822 was appointed town tax collector, for which he received $80.[6]

Around 1826 he bought an interest in the stage line from Hartford, Connecticut, to Brattleboro, Vermont, and soon held extensive mail and stage contracts. In 1831, when steamboats began to run on the river between Hartford and Springfield, Massachusetts, he bought an interest, soon became sole proprietor, and for about 15 years controlled all the passenger traffic on that route.

He also became a large or principal owner of the steamship lines between New York City, Hartford, and New Haven, Connecticut. He later extended his interests into railroads and banking, becoming founder, principal, or president of many companies, including the Western Railroad, the Agawam (National) Bank, and the Connecticut River Railroad. He was one of the earliest advocates of a bridge over the Hudson River at Albany, New York.[7] He served as president and a director of the Western Railroad Corporation from 1854 to 1867, president of the Boston and Albany Railroad from 1868 to 1878, and a director until 1880.

As Congressman

Before his time in Congress, Chapin served as a delegate of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1853 and, as a War Democrat, purchased the uniforms of the 10th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry at the outset of the American Civil War.[8] Chapin was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877), and served on the Committee of Ways And Means.[9] He ran unsuccessfully for reelection in 1876.

Personal life

Chapin married Dorcas [Chapin] on June 1, 1825; they had four children: Abel Dexter, Margaret, Anna, and Chester W.[5]

He died a multimillionaire in Springfield on June 10, 1883, and was interred in Springfield Cemetery.[3] His son inherited his estate, despite being himself already a millionaire, and he acquired various homes including a 20,000 acres estate in the Catskills Mountains in New York State, about 100 miles from Manhattan.[3] He died in 1912, leaving an estate of about 5 million dollars.[3][10][11]

Family

Chapin’s great-uncles, Harvey Dexter Chapin and Abijah White Chapin, married Louisa D. Wilcox and Sarah M. Wilcox, members of the Yale family though their mother Lucy Yale.[12][13] Lucy's husband, Eli Wilcox, was Justice of the Peace and Board director the State bank of Connecticut, and her brother, Dr. Leroy Milton Yale Sr. was a Harvard graduate, fishing ships owner, and father of Dr. Leroy Milton Yale Jr..[14] Chester was also the great-granduncle of Sarah Yale Chapin, daughter of Abijah W., and granddaughter of Col. Harvey.[13][15]

The Statue of Deacon Samuel Chapin, known as The Puritan, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

In 1881, Chapin commissioned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to produce a sculpture of his forefather, Deacon Samuel Chapin; the end result, The Puritan, was not released until 1887, four years after Chester Chapin's death.[16]

Legacy

The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company / New England Steamship company (Providence Line) passenger steamer Chester W. Chapin of 1899 (served until 1923) was named after him.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Chester W. Chapin". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. June 11, 1883. pp. 4–5.
  2. ↑ Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 46, No. 4 (Winter 2012), p. 240
  3. 1 2 3 4 Remembering the Sullivan County Catskills, John Conway
  4. ↑ Noon, pp. xiv – xvii.
  5. 1 2 Chapin, Gilbert Warren, p. 219.
  6. ↑ Chapin, Charles Wells, p. 100.
  7. ↑ Chapin, Charles Wells, pp. 100-101.
  8. ↑ "Chester W. Chapin". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. June 11, 1883. p. 5. He was a working member of the constitutional convention of 1853, held sundry town and city offices, and good-naturedly consented to run for Congress several times when there was no possible chance for one of his part to be elected. He was a war democrat, and largely paid for the uniforms of the City guard when that organization joined the 10th regiment.
  9. ↑ Chapin, Charles Wells, p. 102.
  10. ↑ The Chapin Estate, Sotheby's International Realty
  11. ↑ New Hudson Valley Homes for a New Kind of Buyer, The New York Times, 2017
  12. ↑ Chapin, Orange (1862). The Chapin genealogy : containing a very large proportion of the descendants of Dea. Samuel Chapin, who settled in Springfield, Mass. in 1642, Northampton Mass. : Printed by Metcalf & Co, Boston Public Library, p. 66-122
  13. 1 2 Rodney Horace Yale (1908). "Yale genealogy and history of Wales. The British kings and princes. Life of Owen Glyndwr. Biographies of Governor Elihu Yale". Archive.org. Milburn and Scott company. pp. 204–298–299.
  14. ↑ The Connecticut annual register, and United States' calendar, embracing the political year, 1839, p. 48-137
  15. ↑ Chapin, Orange (1862). The Chapin genealogy : containing a very large proportion of the descendants of Dea. Samuel Chapin, who settled in Springfield, Mass. in 1642, Northampton Mass. : Printed by Metcalf & Co, Boston Public Library, p. 165
  16. ↑ Dryfhout, John H. The Work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens University Press of New England, 1982. Lebanon NH. p.162

References

  • Chapin, Charles Wells. "Sketches of the Old Inhabitants and Other Citizens of Old Springfield of the Present Century, and its Historic Mansions of 'Ye Olden Tyme,' with One Hundred and Twenty-Four Illustrations and Sixty Autographs" Press of Springfield Printing and Binding Company, 1893. Springfield MA.
  • Chapin, Gilbert Warren. "The Chapin Book of Genealogical Data with Brief Biographical Sketches of the Descendants of Deacon Samuel Chapin; Vol. I: First Seven Generations and Vol. II: Eighth to Twelfth Generation". Chapin Family Association, 1924. Hartford, CT.
  • Noon, Alfred. "Ludlow: A Century and a Centennial, Comprising a Sketch of the History of the Town of Ludlow, Hampden County, Massachusetts, Together with an Account of the Celebration by the Town of Its Centennial Anniversary, June 17, 1875. C. W. Bryan and Co., 1875.

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